The details
Among the largest changes implemented since the beginning of the school year include alterations to bus routes and pickup points for roughly 3,000 students enrolled in the district's school choice program.
As previously reported by Community Impact, the number of total bus routes were reduced from 508 routes in the 2023-24 school year to 423 routes in the 2024-25 school year. HISD officials said the efforts were being made to cut costs and reduce the amount of time students spend on buses.
Additionally, officials added eight instructional days to the district’s 2024-25 academic calendar. The calendar was approved after board managers voted to designate HISD as a District of Innovation in December 2023, which allows the district to incorporate more instructional days.
Despite dealing with a nearly $528 million budget shortfall, board manages approved a roughly $2.1 billion budget for fiscal year 2024-25 in June that included compensation increases for many teachers throughout the district.
A closer look
Officials said the effort to streamlining bus routes would save the district around $3 million annually, noting the changes were part of a broader effort to cut $16 million from yearly transportation costs.
At a July 23 news conference, Alexandra Elizondo, HISD Chief of Public Affairs and Communications, said the process of analyzing bus routes began at the beginning of the 2023-24 school year.
"The takeaway was the bus routes before were not well planned and not efficient," she said. "HISD wants to make sure that every child has the shortest amount of time on the bus as possible."
Despite roughly a year of planning, the start of the school year was plagued with school bus issues. On the evening before the first day of school, HISD officials informed parents that roughly 700 students had not received updated bus route information. Further, officials said some parents received incorrect bus route information.
Several parents raised concerns at the board’s Aug. 13 meeting, with some reporting their children spent more than four hours a day on the bus during the first week of school.
Since the start of the 2024-25 school year, HISD officials have added 27 bus routes to address parents’ concerns, bringing to total number of routes to 450.
Also of note
In February, the district adopted an extended 2024-25 school year calendar that started classes more than two weeks earlier than the 2023-24 school year.
Under the calendar, HISD’s 2024-25 school year includes 180 instructional days, running from Aug. 12-June 4.
The approved calendar is coming after board managers voted to designate HISD as a District of Innovation in December 2023, which allows the district to begin its school year earlier and incorporate more instructional days.
HISD Superintendent Mike Miles—who was appointed by the TEA in June 2023 to help improve the district’s accountability ratings and board governance—said schools within the district need 180-185 days of instruction to improve test scores.
To account for the additional workdays, board manages approved salary increases for many teachers throughout the district. However, salaries for teachers who were employed at New Education System campuses, which are subject to more rigid oversight from the district, remained largely the same.
According to the plan, the base salaries for teachers at non-NES schools rose from $61,500 in the 2023-24 school year to $64,000 in the 2024-25 school year. Depending on the grade level taught, new teachers at non-NES schools now begin with salaries ranging from $64,000-$77,690.
Despite the increase, teachers at NES schools still make roughly $10,000-$20,000 more per year than their counterparts at non-NES schools.
Depending on experience, NES teacher salaries will fall in the following ranges for the 2024-25 school year:
- Elementary teachers at NES schools will make between $64,000-$86,000, with the average starting position falling at $75,478.
- Intermediate teachers at NES schools will make between $65,000-$91,000, with the average starting position falling at $80,059.
- High school teachers at NES schools will make between $70,000-$96,000, with the average starting position falling at $82,780.
